


Something I Need

by OceannanotOceania



Category: RWBY
Genre: Cannibalism, Emetophobia, Gen, Injury, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 11:30:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3172638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceannanotOceania/pseuds/OceannanotOceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Team SSSN learns why it's not always a good idea to always listen to people's recommendations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something I Need

**Author's Note:**

> Oh God I'm still reeling from the fact that I wrote this. No but, this is an idea conceived by my friends Tsuki and Clus (a.k.a. [the-rabbit-doodles](https://www.the-rabbit-doodles.tumblr.com/) and [chickenram](https://www.chickenram.tumblr.com/)), and then this happened. But yeah, hope you enjoy!

From the beginning, Sun should have known that something was wrong. The restaurant was a place Scarlet had heard about in passing, and they decided that it would be interesting to at least check out the place that had been advertised as having the “best stews in Remnant”. Sun pauses when his team arrives at the restaurant, eyes flickering up to the large white letters above the front door: Harvest.

“You okay, Sun?” Neptune asks, placing a hand on Sun’s back.

Sun flinches slightly, flashing an look of apology when he notices the shock on Neptune’s face. “No, no, I’m fine.”

“Alright.” Neptune replies hesitantly. “Well, Scarlet, this place better be good.”

Sage snickers, Scarlet rolling their eyes.

“Hey, it’s not my fault if the place is utter shit.”

“Sure man, sure.”

Sun flashes a small smile, letting out a small breath as the chatter of his team helps him calm down.

“Well, guess we should go in.” Sun mumbles, taking a step up to open the front door.

The bell above the door rings, making the host stood a few feet from the front door look up. Confusion flashes across the small man’s face when he looks over to Sun, his eyes flickering down to Sun’s tail. The Faunus quirks an eyebrow, the host quickly shaking his head before his face returns to a neutral expression.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” The host says. “Table for four, I’m imagining?”

Sun nods. The host grabs four menus, waving his hand.

“Right this way, gentlemen.”

Sun’s eyes flicker around the restaurant, biting at his lip when he notices that the place is completely empty, his team the only indication that they were going to have any sort of business today.

Sun takes a seat in the booth the host has chosen for them, the Faunus scooting straight to the center of the corner booth, leaning back on the angle of the booth. Neptune takes a seat to Sun’s right, while Scarlet scoots in toward Sun’s left, Sage taking the leftmost edge of the booth. Scarlet glances over to Sun.

“You okay?” Scarlet asks, voice low.

Sun shakes his head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

Scarlet frowns. “...Alright.”

“So gentlemen, I’ll be your waiter as well as your host today,” The host places menus in front of each team member. “My name is Rosso Corsa, and let me know when you figure out what you’d like to eat today.” He pauses, eyes flickering over to Sun. “So, what would you all like to drink today?”

Everyone ultimately asks for water, the four of them sharing hesitant glances. Rosso nods before walking away.

“Sun, do you know that guy?” Neptune asks.

Sun shakes his head. “No, no, I don’t think so.”

“He seems to know you.” Scarlet chimes in.

“Maybe.” Sun bites at his lip.

“Do you want to leave, Sun?” Sage asks.

“No, no, I,” Sun starts. “I think it’s worth trying this place out.”

Sage frowns. “Right. Just, let us know if you’re too uncomfortable, okay?”

Sun nods, looking over to the host, who has just disappeared behind a pair of black double doors at the back of the restaurant. Sun catches a glimpse of another door in there, silver with a thin, metal handle. The Faunus shakes his head.

“Yeah, I will.” He pauses, glancing back down at the menu. “Well, let’s see what’s good.”

That supposed advertisement wasn’t kidding about the “world’s best stews in Remnant”; in fact, that was the only thing this place sold. There were only ten entrees sold here, each one illustrated with a large, messy picture of what each stew would be.   
Sun ultimately considers the least messy looking stew, advertised for having the least meat out of the other ones pictured, but still having “that same rich taste you’ve come to know and love”.

Sun looks up when he hears glasses clink on the table, back stiffening when he notices the waiter’s eyes on him again.

“So, have you gentleman decided what you’d like to eat?” Rosso asks.

“Uh,” Sun glances around the table, biting at his lip. “Yeah. I’ll have this stew,” Sun lifts up his menu, pointing to the stew he had chosen.

“Hm, good choice.” Rosso nods his head. “Everyone else?”

Sun sits back, looking everywhere but at the waiter as the rest of his team rattle off their order, Sage going for a slightly meatier stew than Sun’s own, and Scarlet and Neptune getting the same stew, one that’s almost overflowing with meat.

“Really dude?” Sun says once the waiter walks away, his gaze alternating between Scarlet and Neptune.

“I’m fucking starving man, what else was I gonna get?” Scarlet replies bluntly.

Sun rolls his eyes, looking over to Neptune.

“It looked good, what else can I say?” Neptune chimes in.

“Sun.” Sage says, making any sort of irritation in Sun’s thoughts disappear.

Sun shakes his head. “Yeah?”

“You’re not fine at all.” Sage says.

“Wh-”

“We’ve all noticed it. You’re on edge, and even though you’ve tried to conceal it, it looks incredibly obvious. So,” Sage says. “I’ll ask again: are you sure you want to stay here? Food hasn’t hit the table, and I can leave a few bills just as compensation for their time, and we can leave. So, do you want to leave?”

Sun lets out a breath. “No, I-” He bites at his lip. “I’m sorry that I’ve been on edge, but, I really do want to stay, at least for a bit. You guys have been looking into this place for a couple of weeks now anyways, so we can stay.”

“Sun-”

“Sage, please. I’m fine with staying.” Sun lets out a breath. “Can we just stay, please?”

Sage sighs. “Alright. We can stay.”

Sun nods, letting his head fall back on the corner of the booth. His gaze flickers up to the ceiling, his mind starting to clear as he listens to the chatter of the rest of his team.

The food comes out a lot quicker than Sun thought it would, the clack of the porcelain on the wooden tables making the Faunus jolt with surprise. Neptune pushes over what’s supposed to be Sun’s stew, the Faunus unable to hold back a small grimace when he notices the meat that floats at the top of the bowl, any sort of pasta completely concealed by either meat or the thick, brown sauce. Though frankly, Sun’s stew still looks way better than the other greasy messes that are put in front of the rest of his team, everyone else sharing some level of anticipation about the food placed in front of them.

Sun pauses, watching everyone else starts to eat, before he grabs a spoon, dunking it into the steaming bowl sat in front of him. The first bite he takes is mostly meat, everything else that thick sauce. The sauce in particular tastes more like salt than anything else, along with a hint of what could possibly be considered other kinds of seasoning. The meat is surprisingly stringy, feeling more like he’s got some kind of gristle stuck in his mouth rather than him eating some kind of meat. It’s with both resentment and relief that Sun’s able to swallow down his first bite, the Faunus immediately reaching out for his glass, and downing a huge gulp of water.

Sun places the glass back on the table, letting out a small breath. He notices Sage staring straight at him in the edge of his vision, Sun brushing off the man as he hesitantly takes another bite of the stew.

It takes a few bites, but Sun ends up working out a system that allows him to eat about half of the stew, the process reduced to gulping down each bite as soon as possible before downing a gulp of water. A few minutes after Sun downs the last of his glass of water, the waiter still remains nowhere to be found. Sage merely lets out a small breath, taking one last sip from his mostly-full glass before sliding it across the table to Sun. Sun looks down at the glass, about to protest when he sees Sage quickly shake his head. Sun bites at his lip, nodding his head in thanks before he goes back to trying to eat his stew.

The last bite Sun takes ends up being the worst. Not even a second after swallowing the bite of meat, one of Sun’s teeth grazes against the inside of his lip, making the faint tang of blood fill his mouth. Sun grabs his glass, gulping down water. He lets out a small sigh, his face promptly falling.

He should have known that something was up. He knew that something was off with the restaurant, with how the waiter looked at him; but he couldn’t connect it to what exactly was wrong. But now he knew, and he couldn’t deny it, not when the evidence was right in front of him: the restaurant was using Faunus meat.

With a shaking hand, Sun places the glass of water back on the table, eyes flickering around at his team. Everyone is still in the midst of eating, though Scarlet is almost finished with their own bowl. Sun suppresses a gag.

“We’re leaving.”

Sage looks up from his bowl of stew. “Sun?”

“We’re leaving.” Sun repeats, adjusting himself so that he can pull out his wallet. He throws a few bills on the table. “Right now.”

Sage has his brow furrowed, the man quickly shaking his head before he gets up. Scarlet scoots towards Sage as they get up, their eyes remaining fixed on Sun.

“Sun?” Neptune asks hesitantly as he gets up.

“Guys, just,” Sun shakes his head, walking to the entrance.

“Gentlemen-”

“There’s money on the table,” Sage replies as he follows Sun. “Sorry, our friend’s just-”

“Having some issues.” Scarlet chimes in.

Rosso watches the four leave, his eyes remaining on Sun.

Sun walks away from the restaurant, hardly registering the rest of his team calling after him.

~

Sun lets out a whine, his grip tightening around the toilet seat. He gulps. It doesn’t seem like he could vomit much more; as far as he could tell, anything that’d been in his stomach had come out the first time he’d vomited. Sun could still taste it though: the flesh of his kin on his tongue. It didn’t matter how many times he purged his stomach, what else he tried to eat or drink, he could still taste it. Hell, he could still practically feel the stringy flesh on his tongue, making Sun move his mouth around as he tries to make the phantom sensation disappear.

There’s a knock at the door. Sun gulps, scowling at the taste of bile, before shaking his head, getting up and flushing the toilet.

“Sun?” Neptune says, voice muffled by the door.

“I’m, I’m fine.” Sun replies, going over to the sink. Sun watches the water flow through the sink, leaning over and cupping his hands under the water. He brings his hands to his mouth, swishing the water around his mouth in order to get rid of the taste of bile that remains in his mouth.

“You sure? That’s the third time you’ve gone in there since yesterday.”

Sun nods, spitting out the water in his mouth. “Er, yeah. I’ll be out in a bit.”

“...Alright.”

Sun’s eyes flicker up to the mirror, his grip tight on the counter in front of him. He lets out a long sigh before walking out of the bathroom.

~

Sun huffs, pausing on the roof of the building next to the restaurant. The streetlight in front of the small shop is still on, casting faint, white light onto the street beside it. He reaches down, lightly grabbing Ruyi Bang. For the briefest of moments, he wonders if he really should have come here on his own.

Sun quickly shakes his head.

No, no. He couldn’t have brought them; this was his grievance, not theirs, so he had no right to get them involved. Even if that had been the case, the Faunus could hardly stand the idea of any of his team getting hurt as a result of helping him.

Sun’s hand falls away from Ruyi Bang, the Faunus letting out a small sigh. He slowly gets up from his kneeling position, and runs across the roof. He just barely makes it onto the roof of the restaurant, his left heel grazing against the edge of the building. Sun stumbles slightly, biting at his lip before righting himself. He glances around the empty rooftop, trying to find-

There.

Sun walks forward, pausing once he’s standing in front of the open, silver vent. There’s black dust and smog caked around the edge of the thing, a very graphic, very familiar scent coming out of the vent. Sun scowls, feeling his stomach flip once. He slows down his breathing, taking one last, deep breath before crawling down the vent.

Sun begins to crawl forward, moving towards the small sliver of light he can see in front of him. He quiets his breathing, trying to reduce the amount of noise that echoes down the hollow vent as he moves. It takes about another minute before Sun finally gets to that small square of light, which he finds leaking through a light silver mesh. Sun licks at his lips, feeling around the edge of the mesh-

He smirks, finding how to open the grate. He lifts up the mesh grate, and lightly places it on the area of vent in front of him. Sun lets out a breath, hopping down the hole.

He looks around the room, lit only by the single he had seen through the vent. It looks like he’s in the kitchen: the walls are a light gray, an array of stovetops and friers lined up along the edges of the room. His shoes faintly squeak against the copper tile floor as he takes a step forward-

Sun feels pain blossom at the back of his head, the Faunus taking one last breath before his world goes black.

~

The first thing Sun hears as he begins to stir is two people speaking. Sun’s eyes slowly open, his face falling when he sees that something’s on top of his eyes. He feels that his hands are crossed behind him, a faint twitch making him realize that his hands are bound. Sun controls his breathing, focusing on the voices in front of him. It takes a second, but Sun recognizes the language the two people are speaking, a mostly-dead language that only comes from the smaller, poorer parts of Mistral.

“Rosso, is this the boy you had talked about yesterday?” The first voice says, the person’s voice husky and rough.

“Yes sir,” Rosso Corsa replies. “He’s a beauty, isn’t he?”

“Indeed.”

“So, what are we going to use him for?” Rosso Corsa asks. “I mean, his flesh seems awfully... dense, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” The man replies. “Though, actually-”

“Hm?”

“How long has it been since we’ve had brains on the menu?”

Sun can hear the smirk in Rosso’s voice. “Well-”

Sun lunges forward, hearing a chain tug against his bound hands, making the Faunus fall to the ground, the awkward angle he falls at making pain shoot through his feet.

“Oh.” The man replies. “Rosso, I thought he’d be out for a bit longer.”

“My apologies, sir.” Rosso Corsa says. “I thought I’d hit him hard enough-”

“It’s fine. We’ll just have to continue our conversation outside.”

Sun hears footsteps going away from him, the feet clacking loudly against the concrete floor.

“Yes, sir.”

“Ah, right.” The footsteps pause. “Do turn down the freezer a bit lower, will you? Don’t want our Faunus friend getting too feisty.”

“Yes, sir-”

“Wh-who are you?” Sun interrupts, feeling like his voice isn’t his own.

“Oh, so it can speak.” The man chuckles. “Well, little Faunus, if you must know.”

Sun hears footsteps approaching him before a hand jerks his chin up. Through the blindfold, Sun can just barely see a large, fat face, the man’s yellow teeth showing in his grin.

“My name is Aldo Giallo, and I’ll likely be the last voice you hear.”

Sun cringes when the man’s breath hits his nose.

The hand falls away from Sun’s chin before he hears footsteps going away from him. Sun hears a faint thud against someone’s back.

“Come, Rosso.”

“Ah, yes sir.”

After a few loud footsteps, the metal door creaks as it shuts, closing with a strange suction sound.

~

 _Sage, Scarlet, Neptune..._ The thought repeats ad nauseum, the Faunus hoping that the names will help clear his mind enough that he can actually send out his semblance. The school was only a few blocks from here, and even though it’d be a bit of a stretch for Sun, he could still send it out. He _had_ to do it. It only takes a few minutes for Sun to stop trying, the Faunus realizing that even _thinking_ about his other team members would make his blood start to boil.

He had to get out of here. They may not be Faunuses, but what if Rosso and that Aldo guy try to go after the rest of his team? Maybe they figure that if Sun is a Faunus, the others could be Faunuses too, their traits merely more well-concealed than Sun’s own? It could be a stretch, but, still. Sun couldn’t afford to have that happen; not only that, but if the rest of his team did die...

Sun lets out a breath, pushing back the tears that start to well up in his eyes. No, no. Crying won’t help, not at a time like this.

He had to get out of here. Sun shifts his body weight, moving that so he can kneel on his feet-

Sun cries out, pain shooting through his feet, the Faunus hearing another loud crack. They did something to his feet; somehow, they broke the bones there, something like that. Sun’s eyes widen. How the fuck is he going to get out of here?

~

Sun lets out a shaky breath, just able to notice through the blindfold the gold dust that fills the air. Well, at least his semblance was working to some extent, even if it’s not necessarily helpful. Sun shivers again, feeling goosebumps rise up on his skin. How cold was it in here? It had to be at least at freezing, but it felt so much worse than that. There had been some harsh winters back in Vacuo, sharp contrasts between the beating sun during the day, and the dry, harsh air on cold nights. All of those winters had nothing on this, though. It feels so much colder than those times back then.

Sun shivers again. Well, if he couldn’t move, he had to try and conserve body heat some way, right? Sun bites at his lip. Though, how the fuck is he going to do that? Sun adjusts his body, hissing when he feels his feet start to throb again. He places his legs closer to his chest, his arms jerking against whatever pole he’s bound to as he curls in on himself as much as he can.

~

Sun stirs when he hears loud yelling outside, punctuated by loud banging. He tilts his head, his eyes fluttering open underneath the blindfold. The voices sounded... familiar. Yes, Rosso and Aldo were talking, but, someone else-

Scarlet? That yelling, it’s Scarlet? How did he-

The freezer door bangs open, crashing loudly against the wall beside it.

“Sun!”

Sun perks up. It’s them, it’s really them.

“Nep, Sage, he’s here, Sun’s-”

Sun hears someone running forward, loud panting in front of him a few seconds later.

“Oh no, no, no, no,” Scarlet mumbles, their hand brushing against Sun’s cheek. Sun leans into the warm touch, the warmest thing he’s felt in so long.

“S-Sage! You were right, Sun’s got it bad, he’s-” Scarlet lifts up the blindfold, fear in their expression. “Sun?”

“Scar...let,” Sun says, a grin coming onto his face.

Scarlet bites at their lip, shaking their head before leaning over to figure out how Sun’s hands are bound. Sun can feel them working at the ropes that bind his hands, their shaky fingers brushing against Sun’s own on occasion.

Sun can’t tell exactly how long it takes, but Scarlet soon has Sun’s hands free, a bang in the other room following soon after. Scarlet’s head jerks to the commotion.

“That’s Sage,” Scarlet says. “Or, maybe it’s Neptune-” They shake their head. “Can you walk?”

Walk? Sun’s eyes widen. No no no no.

“No, I,” Sun says. “They crushed my feet somehow, I can barely put any weight on them.”

Scarlet sighs, eyes flickering back to the front door. “I’m going to check on Nep and Sage, stay here, okay?” They bite at their lip. “That’s probably dumb to say.”

Sun chuckles. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”

Scarlet nods. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Scarlet runs out of the freezer, their hand coming down to grab their weapon. Sun leans back, letting his head hit against the cold wall behind him. A smile comes back onto his face.

They’re here.

~

“Has that gone cold?” Sage asks.

Sun glances up from the small bowl of soup Sage had given him, the Faunus raising an eyebrow. “Dude, you gave this to me like five minutes ago, it feels fine.”

“Yeah, right.” Sage looks at the number of blankets wrapped around Sun. “You’re getting warm, right? You don’t need another blanket or-”

“Sage, please, I’m fine.”

Sage lets out a breath. “Yeah, alright, good.” He pauses. “Look, I’ll actually ask you more questions after you’ve rested, but, just, answer this: why didn’t you tell us anything? We’re a team, Sun, and even if we’re not Faunuses like you, we’re still affected by that sort of thing.” His eyes flicker away from Sun. “I’m still surprised that I hadn’t caught on earlier.”

Sun bites at his lip. “I, I didn’t want you guys to get hurt. This was something that I didn’t think was worth involving you in, so-”

“You did hear what Sage said, right?” Scarlet chimes in, an eyebrow raised as they walk into the room. They’re holding a blanket in their hands, their eyes briefly flickering over to Sage. Sage looks over, shaking his head. Scarlet nods in reply, throwing the blanket onto Sage’s bed.

“We’re a fucking team, Sun. Any problem you have is one we have as well.” Scarlet says. “And, even if we’re not able to exactly understand what we’re going through, we’ll be right there with you, until the end.”

Neptune looks up from the book he’s tightly grabbing, letting out a shaky breath. “You fucking scared us, man.”

Sun looks over to Neptune, surprised by the man’s tone of voice.

“We thought you were _dead_ , for Dust’s sake.” Neptune says. “And, based on what Sage had told us, you were pretty damn close to it.”

Sun bites at his lip. “I’m so-”

“No, dude, don’t,” Neptune shakes his head. “Don’t say you’re sorry, just, promise us that you won’t go AWOL like that again, please.”

Sun gulps, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “Y-yeah, I won’t.”

Neptune flashes a small smile, a smile coming onto Sage and Scarlet’s faces as well.

“Thanks.” Sage chimes in.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in the middle of working on original work, but feel free to give me small requests on my [Tumblr](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/). :'D


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